A developmental assessment is done by a developmental pediatrician, who has specialized knowledge and experience in assessing and managing children with developmental disabilities, such as global or specific developmental delays, autism, cerebral palsy, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities etc.

It involves gathering information on age-specific behaviors through observations and interactions with the child, interviewing the parents, conducting a physical examination and performing certain tests based on standardized tools like DDST or DASII, in order to arrive at a diagnosis.

What do you look for during an assessment?
Assessment is done to find out any delay or disability in physical, mental, cognitive, social or language skill development in the child, and, try to find out the possible etiology of the disability. This requires medical and neurological examinations by gathering the child’s developmental, academic and behavioral history. In addition to this, a detailed observation of the child’s abilities, strengths and weaknesses, play and social skills is done using both formal and informal tools.

What is the role of the Developmental Pediatrician?
A developmental pediatrician is required not only to evaluate the developmental status of the child and reach an aetiological diagnosis through systematic examination and investigations, but also to assist in management of children with cognitive, motor, communicative and/or behavioral difficulties. Ongoing care necessitates periodic follow-ups which enables the pediatrician to assess progress of the child and effectiveness of management. Reassessment at regular intervals monitors the therapy program.
Neurological conditions, genetic and metabolic issues as well as chronic physical medical illnesses often impact a child’s learning and behavior. The developmental pediatrician is able to assess and quantify the magnitude of impact, which determines the level and kind of ongoing care required.

Ongoing care also requires the developmental pediatrician to serve as the child’s advocate, whereby, she/he becomes the coordinator of the interdisciplinary team as well as take the role of counselor for the family. The developmental pediatrician also needs to be able to impart appropriate and accurate information to parents and other allied professionals, helping them to understand the needs of the challenged child.

What is an Educational Assessment?

An educational assessment is an assessment of the skills that are necessary for school/educational performance. Assessment focuses on determining the level of a child’s oral language, reading, reading comprehension, spelling, writing skills and math. In addition, the assessment also includes an evaluation of processing skills (like auditory memory, phonological awareness, visual perception, and visual-motor integration)

The results obtained on the educational tests are compared to the IQ scores. If there is a significant discrepancy between the scores, a diagnosis of learning disabilities is made.

What is done if a learning disability is detected?

After a child is diagnosed with learning disabilities he is referred to a special educator for remedial help. The special educator is not a tutor, but a person who works directly on areas of underachievement. Remedial help improves a child’s weak areas, thereby improving his/her academic performance.

What is IQ and what are IQ Tests?

The term IQ stands for “Intelligence Quotient”. Intelligence or IQ tests are intended to measure aptitude and intellectual capacities and provide and estimate of a child’s mental abilities.

What is the range of normal IQ ?

IQ

Description

% of Population

130+

Very Superior

2.2%

120-129

Superior

6.7%

110-119

High Average

16.1%

90-109

Average

50%

80-89

Low Average

16.1%

70-79

Borderline

6.7%

Below 70

Mentally Retarded

2.2%

What is Neuvo-developmental Therapy?

Neuvo-developmental therapy is concerned with improving the child’s developmental milestones and helping children to learn better ways to move and balance. Assessment is focused on determining the extent of impairment in terms of stiffness, tightness, weakness, posture and co-ordination. Such functional abilities are periodically reassessed on an ongoing basis to ensure that treatment meets the child’s constantly changing needs. The main aim of therapy is to provide the child with a greater variety of coordinated movement patterns. Techniques involve stimulation of muscle activity through weight bearing and sensory stimulation in appropriate postures.

Therapy involves the maximization of overall functional abilities, stretching tight muscles, facilitation of developmental milestones, improvement in balance and coordination as well as parental education. External aids like splints and braces are also often recommended to gain good alignment in standing, walking or other daily activities.

What is Speech Therapy?

Speech and language therapy is the process of enabling one to communicate to the best of his ability. Communication involves listening, speaking, reading and writing. Some people use sign language, communication aids or other methods to communicate.
Communication problems may result from:

Autism

Delayed language development

Stammering

Inappropriate use of speech sounds

Learning difficulties

Hearing loss

Disorders of the voice

Cleft palate

Physical disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy

Listening and attention skills

Phonological awareness skills

Play skills

Social skills

Understanding of language

Expressive language

Speech and language therapists work closely with families, care-givers and members of other professionals including doctors, physiotherapists and teachers.
Speech and language therapists assess the nature and extent of the communication problem in the child through formal or informal procedures, determining difficulties in understanding language, using language and/or articulating speech. Assessments may also focus on determining problems related to feeding, chewing, swallowing, stammering and voice problems.

Ongoing care and therapy is based on the assessment findings. Therapy focuses on developing various skills, which would enable a child to communicate to the best of his/her ability.

Some skill areas targeted during therapy include use of alternative communication (e.g. signs)

What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational Therapy focuses on the child’s “occupation”, which includes the developmental tasks that are required of a specific age group with respect to upper extremity functioning (overall hand movements) and skills for play.

How is it relevant in a child?

Play and skills of daily living constitute a child’s occupation, and a proper development depends on acquisition of these abilities. Occupational therapy enhances development in this area. Pediatric occupational therapists are concerned with analyzing your child’s ability to perform day-to-day activities. The goals are to improve the child’s functional, such as eating by themselves, wearing their clothes etc, and to enhance the child’s ability to interact within his or her physical and social environments.

How can an Occupational Therapist help my child?

An occupational therapist helps families, teachers and caregivers of children with developmental disabilities in adapting the surroundings of the child, identifying materials that can be used by the child as well as adapting certain interaction styles that may help improve a child’s overall skills.

How does OT work?The following is a brief description of some skill areas targeted during therapy:
Fine Motor Skills: Skills related to the small muscles of the body, particularly those of the hands. Children need adequate dexterity (fine hand movements), strength and coordination to manage a variety of tools and objects in their daily routines such as writing, eating, shoe-lacing, and buttoning.

Sensory Integration: The organization of sensory input for use. The “use” may be a perception of the body or the world, an adaptive response, or a learning process. Through sensory integration, the many parts of the nervous system work together so that a child can interact with the environment effectively and experience appropriate satisfaction. For example, if a child is experiencing problems with certain materials and textures, sensory integration can be used to build up tactile tolerance.

Cognition and Problem Solving: Cognitive ability is required to learn skills in all performance areas including, self-care, play and school. These skills underlie the child’s ability to perceive, attend to, and learn from the environment. For example, for tasks such as buttoning, the child needs to know certain directional concepts such as `into’ and `from’.

Social Skills: These skills refer to the child’s ability to interact with others, to cope with new or difficult situations and to manage his or her behaviors in socially appropriate ways. Social skills influence the child’s ability to establish friendships and other social relationships. For example, to build a child’s social skills, the occupational therapist may often engage the child in group therapy.

Visual Perception: The process responsible for the reception and cognition of visual stimuli. Visual perception allows a child to make accurate judgments of the size, configuration and spatial relationships of objects. Example, with respect to writing, the child would need to know which side the curve goes for different letters such as `b’ or `d’. Visual Motor Skills: These skills are the integration of visual perception and fine/gross motor skill, like running, cycling, and throwing a ball. Children who have difficulty with visual motor skills will often have trouble learning how to print or write, as they have difficulty copying information. For example, they may have problems with respect to inter-word or intra-word distances – the distance between different letters in a word or the distance between different words in a sentence